Nations of Greed
by Yowaki
Summary: Austria finds an old diary of Holy Rome's. It speaks of a treausre hidden away in the lands of HRE's last living descendant, too bad nobody knows who that is. Suddenly, it becomes a quest to find this mystery nation in high hopes of gaining a fortune.


Trying to escape the heat of the European summer, Austria decided to do some late-spring cleaning; particularly, to go through some of the potential garbage hidden away in that dusty old attic of his which he hadn't visited in years. Going through a pile of unrecognizable keepsakes, which really didn't strike his interest, he noticed a leather-bound book with _Holy Roman Empire_ engraved in gold on the dusty cover.

"I don't ever recall seeing this book. Is it simply on the history of Holy Rome? No, it is far too thin. Then what is it?" Austria questioned the antiquities around him as he opened to a random page. Flipping through some of the pages, Austria quickly realized that this was actually Holy Rome's diary and that each of these entries held the precious memories belonging to Holy Rome. "Ah, I remember those days..." Austria let out a content sigh, his own memories coming to mind. "Holy Rome must have thought Italy was a girl too." He chuckled while he read through one of the entries.

As enchanting and captivating as some of these beloved memories were, Austria quickly grew bored of them and tossed the book to the side as he continued to rummage through the rest of the piles, stacks, and boxes of old and now useless things.

After about an hour or so of sorting through his, as well as Holy Rome's, old belongings, Austria turned back to the diary, sprawled on the ground and opened to a page closer to the back of the book. Something written on the page caught his eye; "_treasure_".

_I'm so pleased at the outcome of today's battle. I even acquired a treasure along the way. It is a prize for my victory. This is an extraordinary treasure, a necklace made of gold and precious gems, and it will look beautiful hanging from the neck of my love. I cannot wait until I return so that I can give it to her. The Holy Roman Empire shall reign forever._

Austria continued reading, intrigued by this newfound knowledge of this treasure. Surely, Italy has never spoken of such a necklace, nor had Italy shown it to him, which would be quite uncharacteristic of Italy. These things made Austria wonder what exactly had happened to such a treasure.

_It looks like I will not make it much longer if France gets his way. No, I may never get a chance to see my love again, yet I wish to give her the treasure. I could give it to one of my advisors to give to her, but they would just make fun of me. What am I to do? This isn't something that I am willing to let France take hold of. I know! I'll give it to one of my most trusted advisors to hold for me. If I don't make it out of this, then I will have him at the end of his life, give it to any descendant that I may have. That is what shall be done with the necklace._

"Who is Holy Rome's descendant?" Austria questioned aloud to himself as he continued to flip through the book, only to discover that this was the last entry. "No, no! He couldn't have dissolved right after this! What about the treasure?" he shouted a bit too loudly, shaking dust from the rafters. Hungry with greed, he just barely noticed a folded piece of paper fall from the book and gently float to the floor by his feet. Austria peered down at it quizzically, before carefully picking it up and unfolding it.

_Dear Sir, although you are long gone and will never read this, I want you to know that I have done what you asked. Your prized necklace is now safely in the hands of your last living descendant. Well, almost. I have hidden it, actually. It would be too dangerous to give it to such an undeveloped nation. I hid it in a 'castle' along the Rhine River instead, to keep your descendant out of harm's way. I left a note containing its location so that your descendant may find it someday._

_I wish I could have given it to your love for you. Unlike the rest of them, I would not have made fun of you, Sir, but, I will not go against your wishes. Now that it is safely in your descendant's lands, I may retire and fall into peaceful slumber. Maybe I shall find you in the afterlife, Sir._

_-Cyneric Ansgar_

"Cyneric Ansgar? The name doesn't seem familiar to me… And who could possibly be the last living descendant? And did they even survive to this point in time? This Ansgar person did say that the nation was undeveloped at the time..." Austria searched the paper all over to find a date to so he could at least know of a place to start, but there wasn't a date in sight. "Well then," Austria murmured to himself while standing with a stretch. "I guess I'll have to start my research right away." He tucked the letter away safely within the pages of the diary and gently sat it on a broken coffee table under one of the windows before heading down the stairs and towards his personal library.

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**Authors Note~!**

**Okay so, I hope this story makes sense thus far. HRE does have one living nation descendant. Really. You'll find out who it is by the end of this story.**

**But until then…**

**Cyneric Ansgar is a made up person. He has nothing to do with world history.**

**This story is a collab! I'm working on this with the wonderful Kayo Miugi **

**.net/u/2712614/**

**You guys should definitely check out her profile. It's quite lovely.**

**I came up with the idea and general plot for this story, and she really really did a lot to help me write it, and she pointed out the plot holes for me and such and helped me work out some parts of it.**

**See you in the next chapter, thanks for reading!**


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